New Delhi: Taking no chances, Railways on Friday decided not to run trains in Maoist-affected areas during night following today's accident near Jhargram in West Bengal in which over 70 passengers were killed.
It decided to adopt safety measure in both West Bengal and Orissa to ensure security to passengers and as a short term measure rescheduled and cancelled some trains.
"Trains have been rescheduled from Central Railway and East Coast Railway from May 28 to May 31 so that they can reach Jharsuguda (Orissa) only after day break," said the Railway Ministry in a statement.
The steps have been taken in view of the 'Black Week' being observed by ultras from today till June 2, it said.
Long distance inter-state trains passing through Maoist hit areas from Howrah will now leave in the morning hours instead of night. They include 2810 Howrah-Mumbai, 2152 Samarsata Express, 2130 Azad Hind Express, 2906 Porbandar Express and 2834 Ahmedabad Express, it said.
The Orissa Government today said it would take up train security issues in the state with the Railway Ministry as over half-a-dozen railway lines have been identified as vulnerable to Maoist attack.
As the busy Howrah-Mumbai section remained completely paralysed between Kharagpur and Tatanagar following today's mishap, South Eastern Railway cancelled nine trains.
They were Howrah-Barbil Jan Shatdbdi, Howrah-Titlagarh Ispat, Howrah-Tata Steel and Howrah-Chakradharpur Passenger/ Express trains. Other trains like Jhargram-Purulia Bi-Weekly Express, Howrah-Koraput, Howrah-Hatia, Howrah-Purlia and Howrah-Hyderabad Expresses were also cancelled.
The statement also said free travel facility has been provided to the next of kin of the dead and to injured passengers receiving medical attention in Kharagpur, Midnapur and Howrah.
The National Disaster Response Force, which responded to Railways call in the rescue operation, deployed 189 personnel. An NDRF release claimed that two lives were saved by their personnel. PTI
